Raw

As the last full episode of Wrestleshock was the Honky Tonk Man interview and he was arguably the greatest intercontinental champion of all time, Mike and Chris give to you YOUR top 5 IC champions of all time. Who made the list the most? Was it Jeff Jarrett? Kane or HHH? well i don’t recall them making a lot of lists! Mike and Chris then go over your choices and their own choices as well. They talk about the 1000th episode of Raw very briefly and then what they think of the current state of the IC title in the WWE!

You have a task ahead of you as on 17th August is Summerslam and hopefully on the 12th August Mike and Chris….and perhaps someone else will be recording their Summerslam episode and we would like to hear from you again! if you are a wrestling fan, why not send in your favourite moments or matches to vinto316@gmail.com or mikelacey91@yahoo.com. please have them in before the 12th August!
follow mike on twitter – @mlcaey91, Chris @Vinto316 and the show @Wrestleshock316

Welcome to another episode of Wrestleshock Reviews and this is a bonus episode. Martin Stynes (martintalks from YouTube) helps Chris go over the historic Raw 1000 episode. as Michael Cole always says, it is the longest running episodic tv programme.

Chris and Martin go over the returning superstars such as DX, The Rock, Lita and the APA. They also talk about the superstars who couldnt make it such as Edge and Stone Cold Steve Austin!
Who do the guys want to face The Rock at the Royal Rumble? Will a 3 hour RAW each week work? The guys discuss that and much more
View Martin’s fantastic YouTube channel by searching for Martintalks and have a chat with him on Twitter – @martinstyness. Chris is also on Twitter – @vinto316 and the show is @Wrestleshock316.

Before we begin, a special birthday shoutout to Owen Hart who would have been 47 years old today. He was one of my favorite wrestlers ever. His death brings me a lot of sadness even 13 years after his passing, but the memories he gave us during his career are everlasting, so for that we should always be thankful. “Enough is enough and it’s time for a change.” RIP Owen.

Live from Greensboro, NC this is the Raw Deal…

The show begins with the video package highlighting the angle that ended last week’s Raw with John Laurinaitis attacking John Cena with the help of Lord Tensai.

No Nickelback song to start the show. Good. People power in full effect. John Laurinaitis made his entrance. Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler welcomed us to the show. Laurinaitis called himself the leader of WWE and that he won’t allow anybody to challenge his leadership skills. He was upset about Cena calling him an idiot and a corporate jackass. That’s why he lost his temper last week. He said “Brock Cena” at one point. What he meant to say is that Brock Lesnar hurt Cena’s arm and he hurt Cena’s pride. He said WWE’s Board of Directors didn’t punish him for his actions because they realize he’s tough but fair. He asked that Cena was not there tonight so that he could rest his elbow and have no excuse while he loses to JL at Over The Limit. This boring Laurinaitis continued as he talked about his wrestling career. They showed pics of him holding titles in Japan. They showed pics of him putting people in submission holds. He called himself Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin and The Rock all rolled into one in terms of his star power. He said when WWE asked him to wrestle for them years ago he said no. He said his match with Cena was bigger than Cena/Rock and Cena/Lesnar. The whole promo lasted about 7 minutes. Crowd was hot for parts of it, but died down. It went on too long. Finally the music of WWE Champion CM Punk hit.

Punk said Laurinaitis never amazed him. He said Laurinaitis had no clue what the people wanted to hear or see. Punk was rocking the full beard again so I guess his match with Daniel Bryan will be a beard on beard showdown. He said the WWE Universe doesn’t want to see Laurinaitis. The crowd cheered. They don’t care about his time in Japan. Punk said this is about Laurinaitis putting all of his chips on Lesnar and then Cena beat him. He said he was like a hyena to pick the bones after Lesnar did the damage to Cena’s arms. Punk said the reason he had to go to Japan was because there wasn’t anybody that wanted to pay to see him wrestle. Punk called him a joke then and now. He said he’d watch Over The Limit to see John Cena beat Laurinaitis. JL asked him if he was finished. Punk asked if he was done, but the crowd cheered so he continued. Punk: “You’re stupid, you’re ugly and you have no friends. You’re also a gigantic toolbox. I’m finished now.” Laurinaitis said he could beat Punk now, but he’s not going to. He told Punk he would be facing somebody that went to Japan to hone their skills. He told Punk that he’d be facing Lord Tensai. Punk said he accepted that and looked forward to it almost as much as he expects Cena to make Laurinaitis tapped out. Punk dropped the microphone to end the promo after 15 minutes.

Analysis: It wasn’t an epic pipe bomb promo from Punk, but it was a reminder of his long standing issues with Laurinaitis. I thought Laurinaitis’ solo work was pretty lackluster and crowd killing. It went on too long. He’s not good enough on the microphone to talk to the crowd like that. When Punk got out there it was better. It felt a bit out of place since they are feuding with different people. However, there was nothing wrong with it really. The Punk/Tensai match is fresh too, so hopefully they book it in a smart way whether it’s at the top of hour two or in the main event slot of the show. I’d assume Cena is there in some capacity although if he gets the week off it wouldn’t be that surprising either.

Backstage, Big Show was walking. He gets his IC Title rematch coming up next.

(Commercial)

Backstage, Show was walking to the ring. Still? Laurinaitis walked up to him. He was mad that Show didn’t show him respect. As he walked away, Show did an impression of Laurinaitis using the JL voice. Eve walked up to Show, so she heard him imitating Laurinaitis. He headed to the ring. Not sure what the point was of that unless this will lead to something where Laurinaitis sends somebody out there to screw Show out of the win.

Before the IC Title re-match, they showed pictures of Extreme Rules when Cody Rhodes regained the IC Title he never should have lost. Then Show put him through a table. Cody entered first followed by Big Show right after.

Intercontinental Title: Cody Rhodes vs. Big Show

Show dominated the action early with big chops followed by a body slam. Rhodes came back with a boot to the face and a Disaster Kick. Show came back by flipping him across the ring. Rhodes rolled out to the floor. He asked for his title. Show cut him off before he could walk away. Then Cody ran out the other side of the ring. He ran up the aisle with his title. Match went about three minutes.

Winner: Big Show via Countout

Post match, Big Show asked for the microphone. He told Cody not to take the coward’s way out. Cody left. Eve’s music started out. She’s rocking the business suit attire. That’s a lovely short skirt.

Eve told him to apologize for making fun of JL’s voice. She said he had to apologize to her, to the fans and to Laurinaitis. He said “I’m sorry.” She said she didn’t ask him to say “I’m sorry.” She told him to apologize. Eve reminded him that outside of this business there’s not a lot of use for a 400 pound 40 year old freak. They don’t mention age much on WWE TV, but that was a good way to get Show angry. Show: “I apologize for making fun of John Laurinaitis’ voice.” He was serious. Then he left. Eve was pleased with that.

Analysis: ¼* That finish is overdone. They even did it on Smackdown with Swagger walking out on Brodus Clay. It seems like every other week there’s a “heel walks away for a countout” finish. There are other ways to book finishes without having somebody lose. Instead, it’s the same thing over and over again. Where’s the creativity? The Eve/Show segment was okay. She’s good in the bitchy heel role. Better than her stale babyface work at least.

Later: Punk vs. Tensai. Also Orton & Sheamus vs. Jericho & Del Rio. That should be a good tag match.

(Commercial)

They replayed the tag title win of Kofi Kingston and R-Truth last week. Kofi Kingston made his entrance along with R-Truth, who of course adds Little Jimmy into his entrance. Love how he holds the rope open for Little Jimmy too. What a gentleman. Vickie Guerrero introduced Dolph Ziggler, who also had Jack Swagger with him.

This match has happened probably 30 times on television in the last few years. They have had a lot of matches. They’re always good. They showed AW (All World no longer Abraham Washington) watching the action along with Rosa, Primo & Epico. So a team with a manager got a manager too. Meanwhile, Mason Ryan showed up into the shot as well. Back in the ring, after Dolph got some early offense with a nice dropkick Kofi was able to get control with his usual offense. Kingston hit the SOS for a count of two. Swagger and Vickie successfully distracted Kingston, so Ziggler was able to capitalize with the Zig Zag for the win. The match went about 3 minutes.

Winner: Dolph Ziggler

Analysis: *1/4 They’ve certainly had better matches. This was only three minutes though, so can’t blame them for that. It followed typical WWE booking where a champion loses a match that is not for their title. The Mason Ryan thing is noteworthy because the rumor is he may be used as Ziggler’s bodyguard although plans can always change.

They showed John Cena talking to a techie as Michael Cole informed us he’d be doing an interview. Cena had his left arm in a sling. The idea is he’s not actually at the show. Interview is after the break.

(Commercial)

Back from break, Michael Cole was in the ring. Cena was “live via satellite.” John thanked the fans for their support. He said there are no broken bones, but he has to have his elbow drained twice a day. Cena said doctors didn’t want him to compete and recommended he take a few months off. He said he wasn’t going to listen to them because nothing would stop him from competing. Cena said the Board of Directors contacted him and he told them not to reprimand him because he wants to get his hands on Laurinaitis. Cole said he was impressed with what Laurinaitis has accomplished in his career. Cole suggested that Cena could be scared of Laurinaitis. Cena said he’s scared that Laurinaitis is so bad that he’s going to hurt himself because Cena could get his hands on him. He said he’s excited that he’ll get to attack Laurinaits the way all the superstars and fans want to do. Cena: “In 13 days at Over The Limit I will kick John Laruinaitis’ ass!” That’s the end of the promo.

Analysis: It didn’t seem like a legit “live” promo. It could have been for all I know. Cena’s likely at the show and they just did it backstage, but there were points where it seemed off. Anyway, the point of the angle is to get sympathy heat for Cena. The crowd cheered him. No risk of boos when he’s not in the arena live. It was an interviewed that lasted under five minutes. If that’s all we get of Cena tonight then I’m okay with that.

Plug time: When you’re done here, be sure to check out the great work of my buddy Brandon Stroud at With Leather for daily sports comedy and his awesome Best & Worst of Raw column every Tuesday afternoon. It’s worth your time. Give it a look!

(Commercial)

In the ring, Natalya and Maxine were waiting for their opponents. Good. Big fan of both. At the announce table, Beth Phoenix joined in at the commentary table. They said that at Over The Limit it will be Layla defending the Divas Title against Beth Phoenix.

Layla & Kelly Kelly vs. Natalya & Maxine

Fast paced action early. Kelly attacked Natalya on the floor to prevent some cheating. Layla ended up finishing off Maxine easily with the Lay Out neckbreaker. The match went about one minute.

Winners: Layla & Kelly Kelly

Analysis: NR Wow that was ridiculously short. Natalya and Kelly didn’t even tag in. Kelly knocked her off the apron, Natalya took a bump to the floor and Layla ended up finishing off Maxine with the Lay Out very easily. What does that accomplish? Obviously the focus is on Layla and Beth, but giving them only one minute of in-ring time doesn’t do anybody any good.

Tag match is next at the top of hour two: Orton & Sheamus vs. Jericho & Del Rio.

(Commercial)

They plugged Santino’s Foreign Exchange show on WWE’s Youtube channel. It’s usually pretty funny from what I’ve seen.

In the ring, Ricardo Rodriguez gave a big introduction for Alberto Del Rio, who came out in a 2012 Ferrari worth $377,000 according to Cole. They mentioned that it would be Sheamus vs. Del Rio for the World Title at Over The Limit. I don’t think anybody believes Del Rio will win, nor should they. Del Rio got moved to Smackdown. No legitimate reason was given for it, but I think it was a numbers thing in that Smackdown needed more top of the line heels. I would have preferred Ziggler in the spot personally. Chris Jericho made his entrance. Big pop for Randy Orton. The World Champ Sheamus came out last to a good ovation as well.

There are no current feuds for Orton and Jericho so perhaps that could get started here. The faces had control early. Sheamus destroyed Jericho with the ten punches while he was between the ropes. That’s a good spot that generates a good reaction. Jericho avoided a powerslam by shoving Sheamus into the ring post. Del Rio kicked Sheamus in the injured left arm while he was out on the floor. The left shoulder of Sheamus is still bandaged to sell his recent beatings at the hands of Daniel Bryan. I love when injuries are sold for longer than a week. Three minutes into the match we head to break for the vintage floor to commercial spot.

(Commercial)

Back to the action, Jericho was in control of Sheamus for about thirty seconds. Sheamus ended up getting the hot tag to Orton while Jericho tagged out to Del Rio. Orton hit a powerslam on Jericho while Rodriguez distracted the ref to allow Del Rio to hit an enziguiri to Orton for account of two. The heels worked over Orton for a bit. Orton hit a dropkick to Jericho. Cole said you don’t see Orton throw many of them. What? He has one of the best dropkicks and does them all the time. Jericho slowed Orton down to prevent the tag. He gave him a reverse chinlock: “ASK HIM!” Orton rolled him up for two. Jericho gave Orton an enziguiri. Del Rio tagged in and dropped Orton’s left arm onto his own knees. He yelled out “destiny” as he tried to put on the Cross Armbreaker. I guess he still says “destiny” then? Okay. Hot tag to Sheamus while Del Rio brought in Jericho. Sheamus hit a high knee to Jericho. Then he powered out of Walls of Jericho and hit the Irish Curse backbreaker. Del Rio ran in, so Orton gave him a RKO. Sheamus went for the Brogue Kick. Jericho moved out of the way. The Brogue Kick hit Orton in the face. Sheamus was stunned. Jericho ended up hitting the Codebreaker. He pinned Sheamus for the win after 13 minutes.

Winners: Chris Jericho and Alberto Del Rio

After the match, Jericho grabbed the World Title. He said he should be the champion. The heels celebrated as they left. Sheamus tried to help Orton up. Orton didn’t want it. Then he hit Sheamus with a RKO, which left the World Champion out on the mat.

Analysis: ***1/2 This was your typical very good middle of the show tag match that allowed all four guys get a chance to shine. They’re all big names who have established signature moves that the crowd popped for. It’s a formulaic tag match that always works. No complaints here. We need more of these on a regular basis. The booking decision is interesting because now it seems as though we could get a Fatal Fourway at Over The Limit rather than the already announced Sheamus/Del Rio match.

Later tonight, an update on Triple H’s condition and the future of Brock Lesnar.

Also later is CM Punk vs. Lord Tensai.

(Commercial)

Backstage, John Laurinaitis was with Eve. She said she’d go talk to Big Show.

All of a sudden, Laurinaitis was joined by Jericho, Del Rio and Orton. All of them wanted a title shot against Sheamus. They started brawling. All of a sudden Sheamus showed up and all four guys were brawling. The faces took care of the heels. Sheamus got in Orton’s face because they each hit the other guy with their finishers. Sheamus: “You bring it fella!” Laurinaitis announced the World Title match will now be a Fatal Fourway between Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio, Chris Jericho & Randy Orton. My guess was right. Cool. It will be better this way.

Brodus Clay made his entrance with his dancers Naomi and Cameron. He referred to his fans as Funkateers now. He said it’s Mother’s Day on Sunday so we better call our momma. Miz came out complaining that he has a match with…this. Miz: “If I wanted to see King Hippo dance I’d play Mike Tyson’s Punch Out.” Great line. He wants Brodus to call his momma so he can tell her that “I’m the Miz and I’m awesome.”

Brodus Clay vs. The Miz

Cole said this was a true test for Clay. Brodus knocked him to the floor. Cameron and Naomi laughed at him. Like a dummy, Brodus chased him back into the ring. Miz stomped away. He hid a running boot to the face for a count of two. Miz hit his corner clothesline. He hit a double axehandle off the top for two. I don’t think Brodus has sold this many moves during his run as the Funkasauras. Miz hit a dropkick to Brodus’ knee followed by a high knee to the jaw. Then he gave him a chinlock. Brodus powered out of it with a slam. He gave him a battering ram headbutt. Miz countered a charge with a boot to the face. Brodus hit an overhead suplex. Big splash connects for Brodus for the win after about 5 minutes.

Winner: Brodus Clay

Analysis: * That was the longest Brodus match they’ve done since he’s been the Funkasauras. The crowd wasn’t really rallying behind him while Miz was on offense, but they did pop for his signature moves that led to his victory. Miz is going to be filming The Marine 3 very soon, so don’t be surprised if he keeps losing until they write him out for a month or so.

They aired a video package about the Be A Star anti-bullying campaign.

Up next is an update on the Brock Lesnar/Triple H story.

(Commercial)

Back from break, we got a video package of Brock Lesnar injuring the…wait for it…left arm of Triple H. Left arm injuries come in threes since Cena and Sheamus are also dealing with left arm issues.

Michael Cole called it a broken arm for Triple H, who also had ligament damage. He’s having surgery. They showed a pic of him with the metal brace on his arm and that Triple H will be live next week.

They extended an invitation to Brock Lesnar. Instead, it was Paul Heyman who walked out. CM Punk tweeted a pic of him backstage and said he’d be on his way to the ring. Awesome. “Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Paul Heyman and I am here tonight as the representative for Brock Lesnar.” He said Lesnar’s been underappreciated by WWE’s audience since day one. He said things are different now than they were ten years ago when he first represented Lesnar. He said Lesnar feels betrayed by the WWE Universe and “Brock Lesnar should not have to feel that way.” He said Lesnar was the only man in history to win the NCAA Heavyweight Championship, the Undisputed WWE Championship and the UFC Heavyweight Championship. Heyman called Lesnar an honest man. He told us he’d be an ass kicking machine and that’s what he’s been. We found out that #PaulHeyman was trending. He read an official statement from Lesnar to the fans. “And I quote.” That was funny. He read a letter saying that he’s mad at how he’s been treated. He didn’t regret what he did to Cena or Hunter. He said Hunter lasted nearly an hour with Undertaker, but he couldn’t last a minute with Lesnar. He said he doesn’t care about Triple H, the fans or WWE corporate because “I, Brock Lesnar, am never coming back because I, Brock Lesnar, quit.” Heyman left.

Analysis: It’s just an angle, of course. It was nice to see Heyman again although I wish the crowd was louder. It will be interesting to see if Heyman returns when Lesnar does, but I’m not sure if that will happen. Hunter’s “broken arm” injury will allow them to save the Lesnar/Hunter match for Summerslam most likely. Heyman was very good in his role. That’s not a surprise. He’s one of the best talkers ever.

We got a short recap of the Punk/Laurinaitis segment that started the show.

Punk walked to the ring for his match with Lord Tensai in the main event.

(Commercial)

Backstage, Big Show talked to some actors from some USA Network show that I totally missed. They’re detectives on their TV show, so they wanted to investigate to help Big Show. They started impersonating Laurinaitis. Big Show laughed. Eve showed up. Big Show stopped. Then the scene ended. So I guess Big Show is scared of Eve? Is that the point of these segments? I’m kidding. He’s scared of JL’s power obviously and they’re using Eve as a way to make it look like JL was being an evil man.

CM Punk made his entrance. John Laurinaitis stopped his music before he got to the ring. He informed us that the main event would be Punk vs. Lord Tensai and Daniel Bryan. I was waiting for Bryan to be on the show. They went to break just before it hit 11pmET, which means this will likely be a short match.

(Commercial)

Lord Tensai & Daniel Bryan vs. CM Punk

The match was already underway as we returned from break at 11:00pmET. Tensai was overpowering Punk. Bryan tagged in and hit Punk with some kicks to the chest. Punk and Bryan hit cross body blocks at the same time. Tensai hit a delayed suplex. Tensai hit a running splash on Punk. Bryan tagged in. He missed a flying headbutt as Punk moved out of the way. Punk made his comeback by giving Bryan a slingshot into the corner followed by a sidekick and a neckbreaker. Punk hit his running knee followed by the bulldog combo. The crowd cheered a bit. They weren’t as loud as they should be. Punk went for the Go To Sleep. Bryan slipped out. Tensai made a blind tag as Punk knocked Bryan out of the ring. Tensai decked Punk with a clothesline. A corner splash missed. Punk decked him with a kick to the face. Sakamoto distracted the ref, so Bryan grabbed the top rope as Punk climbed to the top. Tensai capitalized with a double choke bomb to put Punk down. Tensai spit the green mist into his hand and then gave Punk the Claw. He gave him the STO with the Claw combo to put Punk down. He covered for the victory after 6 minutes of action that we saw.

Winner: Lord Tensai

Analysis: ** So the guy that isn’t in the WWE Title match pins the WWE Champion while the guy that is in the WWE Title match looks like a loser out on the floor? I understand why they did it with Tensai getting the win, but it would have meant more if Bryan made Punk tap out.

Post match, Bryan attacked Punk. He put him in the Yes Lock. Bryan yelled at him “you’re not better than me” and of course yelled “yes” repeatedly. The show ended with Bryan celebrated the attack on Punk.

Analysis: That’s how I would have ended the match. Instead, they ended the show that way, which is effective in terms of wrapping it up by having the last impression be of the WWE Champion getting attacked by his top challenger. It was a fine ending. Not great, but not bad either.

——————-

Three Stars of the Show

1. Paul Heyman – Welcome back. Please stick around.

2. Chris Jericho – All the guys in the tag match deserve praise. I picked him because he was finally booked to win something.

3. CM Punk – Nice promo to start and good job of taking the beating in the main event.

The Scoreboard

6 out of 10

Last week: 5.5

2012 Average: 6.11

2012 High: 9 (January 30)

2012 Low: 4 (January 9 & April 23)

Last 5 Weeks: 5.5, 4, 7, 5, 8

Final Thoughts

I gave this week’s Raw a 6 out of 10. That means it was an average show. As you can see from the scoreboard above, the average is just above a 6. The theme of the show was “don’t cross the boss.” The whole point was to show that John Laurinaitis isn’t just a powerful man, but he’s an evil man as well. Babyfaces such as Big Show, John Cena and CM Punk have all felt his wrath over the past two weeks.

It was awesome to see Paul Heyman in a WWE ring again. It’s been too long. Hopefully this will lead to more appearances on his part, but I have no idea if there’s any deal in place or it was a one time thing. The fact that it even happened one time was a nice surprise, so hopefully there are other appearances down the road. I think Lesnar would benefit from Heyman cutting his promos for him when he returns in a few months.

The tag match at the top of hour two was fun. It was definitely the best match on a show that lacked really good matches because of all the talking segments. I think adding Orton and Jericho to the mix at Over The Limit gives the World Title match some much needed star power. Plus, what else were they going to do? They need to be on the card.

I’m sure some will complain about Bryan going after the WWE Title on Raw even though he’s a Smackdown guy while Jericho goes for the World Title on Smackdown even though he’s a Raw guy. Clearly it doesn’t matter anymore, so why complain? I’m just glad they’re the two guys they picked to cross over brands to be in these main title matches. They’re two of the best performers in the company, so if you’re going to pick anybody it might as well be them. No complaints from me.

1. Bring Back the Six-Sided Ring – Although I wasn’t a huge fan of this particular ring, it certainly set TNA apart from other wrestling promotions, specifically WWE. If the company were to bring this back, I think company loyalists would be happy and new fans might try the product because it looks different.

2. Close The Over 50’s Club – PERMANENTLY! – As big a Hulkamaniac as I am, this company employ far too many on screen senior citizens. Sting, Ric Flair, Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan together take up far too much TV time and unfortunately no longer add anything to the product. Sting deserves credit for constantly trying to help the younger talent but since TNA will always treat these older stars as superior, the only way for the promotion to move forward is for this team of legends to leave the sport and let the tradition live on with younger wrestlers.

3. Book Kurt Angle as a Part Time Special Attraction – It’s no secret that over the past few years, Kurt Angle has been pretty banged up and has started to look a shell of his former self, looking almost gaunt. In order to maximise the matches Angle has with his injuries and age, it only makes sense that Angle be used sporadically throughout the year in semi to main event matches to help the younger talent and utilise the Olympic Gold Medalist in the best way possible at this stage of his career.

4. Send Garrett Bischoff back to College – I have nothing against Garrett and truth be told, he’s not completely awful on the mic. WWE managed to strike gold with Shane McMahon ten years ago who was decent in the ring and able to handle upper mid card to main event feuds with stars like The Rock and Steve Austin on a regular basis. Unfortunately, Garrett doesn’t have that spark we saw from Shane. It will take a lot more than Hogan’s ‘blessing’ for fans to accept him. Simple fact is Garrett hasn’t paid his dues and doesn’t deserve his spot, something the fans will not forget. So with all due respect TNA lets focus on building someone who can sell PPVs for the company and not an Exec’s son.

5. Don’t book former WWE Talent as Superiors to TNA Veterans – Far too many times have we seen TNA bring in former WWE stars like Nash, Nasty Boys, Val Venis, RVD and they are booked to be better than the roster because they used to wrestle in WWE. It makes no sense. TNA have some great talent from AJ and Samoa Joe to MCMG and Bobby Roode. The sad reality is these guys are booked as being inferior to the former Stamford alumni and this is an area TNA really has to look at, if it plans to grow the brand.

6. Get Behind a Main Event Babyface and Stick With It -As flawed as WCW was in the day and WWE is now, there’s always a clear hero that is fighting for the company in the main events. In WWE it’s John Cena, in WCW it was Sting then Goldberg. TNA have…….well nobody. Jeff Hardy isn’t booked as a main eventer even though he should and they’ve killed off any buzz that Styles or Joe have ever had. TNA need to pick a guy whether it’s Storm, Anderson, Hardy, Joe….whoever it is and stick to it. TNA needs a hero and it’s not Hulk Hogan.

7. Take Impact Wrestling AWAY from Universal Studios – I know TNA struck a deal where they can pack the Impact Zone every week and be guaranteed a full house because they’re in a theme park, but frankly it’s impossible in 2012, to gauge how a fanbase feels about angles when you record in a theme park where instead of going on the Indian Jones ride they stumble into wrestling and just cheer and boo what they want. Obviously there are hardcore TNA fans at the shows but overall a change of scenery would do the product the world of good. What TNA need to realise is they can’t fill out 10,000 seater arenas. So why not play up to that and go and do Impact in smaller arenas where rabid fans can come to the shows and you can make a unique product for the literally, millions of wrestling fans who don’t watch or go to WWE shows. There’s a huge market out there for wrestling, TNA just has to go out into the US and find it.

8. Make the deal with Paul Heyman and give him FULL creative control. – It’s widely known that Paul Heyman came close to signing with the Nashville group on the condition that he had full creative control and he planned to only keep one legend on the roster. Dixie Carter’s figurative monumental erection for Hogan and Flair stopped this from becoming a reality. The fact is she made a mistake. Heyman’s downfall was as a businessman, never in creativity. So the chance for him to be in charge of creative and have none of the business dealings fall on his head would be a great fit.

9. Cut back to 5 Pay Per Views a Year – Although the pay per view model can be very successful in wrestling, based on the findings that of the 1 million people that watch Impact only 8,000 people buy their pay per view events, it’s clearly not a profitable venture for TNA. But there’s no reason they have to stick to one pay per view a month. For this group to get successful, they could build great rivalries over 2-3 months and then make fans fork out their money to see the match.

10. No More Reunions, No More WWE Has Beens – TNA has to look forward not backwards. We don’t want them to re-create Hogan/Sting or 90’s ECW. From now on, the company should brand themselves on being the future of pro wrestling. They’ve proven with their rankings system and open fight night that when they put their mind to it, they can be original. When WWE releases talent, TNA shouldn’t automatically sign them. Only sign wrestlers if they’re worth the price tag and could make a positive change to your product.

I hope you’ve found this column as enjoyable as I found writing it. If TNA implemented even half these changes, I truly believe their show would be much better and they’d be on the road to becoming a long term, successful promotion. We can only hope……

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Julian, Chris, and Rob is here to talk about the deaths of Prodigy lead singer, Luke Perry, and King Kong Bundy. We also talk about two outlaw indy show spots that were ridiculous, possible John Cena vs Samoa Joe match at Wrestlemania, Ciampa out for up to one year due to injury, Fastlane predictions and […]

Julian and Rob is here to discuss the Elimination Chamber PPV. We also talk about the disappointing Raw debuts of NXT Talent, Tye Dillinger asks for his release, Roman Reigns will return to Raw next week, looking back at the "2/21/2011" promos and buildup and the Jack Swagger/Zeb Colter message to the media in 2013 […]

Julian and Rob is here to give our predictions of the Elimination Chamber PPV. We also talk about the current state of AEW, DC Comics delaying Doomsday Clock once again, the passing of Pedro Morales, CM Punk vs. John Cena from Raw in 2013 is about to be 5 years old, Jay White becomes IWGP […]

We return to give our thoughts of the 2019 Royal Rumble PPV along with our thoughts of the variant covers of Detective Comics #1000, Dean Ambrose possibly leaving WWE, Daniel Bryan's eco-friendly WWE Championship, Jarrett and Road Dogg stinking up Raw, Julian's overview of the Reign of the Supermen event and more. Sign up for […]

Julian, Rob Base, and JayDee is here to give you our predictions of both the Royal Rumble and NXT Takeover Phoenix. We also talk about the 4 year anniversary of CM Punk walking out of WWE and what he has done since, the 35 year anniversary of Hulk Hogan winning the WWE Championship, Abyss and […]

Julian and Rob Base is here to give you an entertaining show. We give our thoughts of Wrestlekingdom 13 and why the undercard was lackluster compared to the main event matches,Ronda vs Sasha Banks at the Royal Rumble, annoyances in comic books especially Marvel,Why Rob hates Bruce Prichard, and our live watch of the Punjabi […]

Joe Numbas of Wrestling Soup is here for the first time as me and him give our reactions to the AEW Pep Rally and the fallout from it and our thoughts of the Starrcast 2 announcement. We go in detail about the bloody tampon spot as well along with the returns of Black Russo and […]

Julian and Rob is here to give our tributes to the late Mean Gene Okerlund as he passed away today. We also give our predictions of Wrestlekingdom 13, Our thoughts of the AEW announcement, Impact Wrestling moving to the Pursuit channel, Bird Box, Aquaman thoughts, and the results of the 7th annual TWC year end […]

Julian and Rob Base is here to give you our thoughts about the decent TLC PPV from last weekend. We also talk about the anticlimactic opening of Raw, my top 10 predictions for 2019, Angry Video Game Nerd, Soulja Boy releasing a pirated video game console, and our live watch of Tommy Dreamer vs Justin […]